Mapping cognitive place associations within the United Kingdom through online discussion on Reddit
Cillian Berragan; Alex Singleton; Alessia Calafiore; Jeremy Morley (2024). Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 49(3). DOI: 10.1111/tran.12669
Abstract
This paper explores cognitive place associations; conceptualised as a place‐based mental model that derives subconscious links between geographic locations. Utilising a large corpus of online discussion data from the social media website Reddit, we experiment on the extraction of such geographic knowledge from unstructured text. First we construct a system to identify place names found in Reddit comments, disambiguating each to a set of coordinates where possible. Following this, we build a collective picture of cognitive place associations in the United Kingdom, linking locations that co‐occur in user comments and evaluating the effect of distance on the strength of these associations. Exploring these geographies nationally, associations were shown to be typically weaker over greater distances. This distance decay is also highly regional, rural areas typically have greater levels of distance decay, particularly in Wales and Scotland. When comparing major cities across the UK, we observe distinct distance decay patterns, influenced primarily by proximity to other cities.
Extended Summary
This research investigates how people mentally connect different places across the United Kingdom by analysing patterns of place mentions in online social media discussions. The study developed an innovative method to extract geographic knowledge from over 8 million Reddit comments posted between 2011 and 2022 across 213 UK-focused community discussion forums (subreddits). Using advanced natural language processing techniques, including a custom-built BERT model, the research identified and geolocated more than 5 million place name mentions from nearly half a million unique users. The methodology involved creating cognitive associations between locations when the same user mentioned multiple places, effectively mapping the mental geography embedded in informal online conversations. The research found that cognitive place associations follow a distance decay pattern, meaning locations mentioned together tend to be geographically closer, but with significant regional variations. Urban areas showed weaker distance decay compared to rural regions, suggesting that city dwellers maintain stronger mental connections with distant places. Rural areas in Wales and Scotland exhibited particularly strong distance decay, indicating more localised cognitive geographies that may reflect regional identity and reduced connectivity with the broader UK. Major cities displayed distinct association patterns: London showed the weakest distance decay, maintaining strong cognitive connections across long distances, reflecting its role as the capital. Manchester demonstrated moderate decay patterns with strong connections to other major urban centres, whilst Newcastle showed steeper decay, suggesting more limited national cognitive reach. The study revealed boundary effects, where associations within Scotland and Wales remained strong but weakened considerably across national borders into England. This finding supports previous research on regional identity and suggests that political and cultural boundaries significantly influence mental geography. The research contributes to computational geography by demonstrating how social media text can reveal collective mental maps that differ from traditional mobility-based spatial connections. Unlike physical movement data, these cognitive associations capture persistent perceptions of place relationships that transcend time and distance constraints. The findings have implications for understanding regional identity, spatial planning, and how digital communications shape geographical cognition. The methodology offers new possibilities for studying mental geography at population scale without requiring traditional survey methods or participatory mapping exercises.
Key Findings
- Cognitive place associations extracted from Reddit comments show distance decay patterns, with stronger connections between geographically closer locations.
- Rural areas exhibit greater distance decay than urban areas, particularly in Wales and Scotland, suggesting more localised mental geographies.
- London demonstrates the weakest distance decay among major cities, maintaining strong cognitive connections across long distances throughout the UK.
- Strong boundary effects exist where associations within Scotland and Wales weaken considerably when crossing into England, reflecting regional identity patterns.
- The methodology successfully extracted over 5 million place mentions from Reddit discussions, demonstrating social media’s potential for studying collective mental geography.
Citation
@article{berragan2024mapping,
author = {Cillian Berragan; Alex Singleton; Alessia Calafiore; Jeremy Morley},
title = {Mapping cognitive place associations within the United Kingdom through online discussion on Reddit},
journal = {Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers},
year = {2024},
volume = {49(3)},
doi = {10.1111/tran.12669}
}